Leg-spinner Matt Parkinson claimed the last two wickets in successive balls to wrap up Kent’s victory over Middlesex at Merchant Taylors’ School and strengthen their bid for promotion from County Championship, Division 2.
Middlesex’s hopes of chasing down a stiff target of 356 looked forlorn at 225-8 - only for Joe Cracknell (65 not out) and Tom Helm’s heroic ninth-wicket partnership of 74 to keep Kent nerves on edge.
But Parkinson sealed the visitors’ third straight win in Division 2 - their fifth of the summer - tempting Helm (33) to drive to cover and then bowling last man Noah Cornwell first ball to finish Middlesex off for 309.
Kent stay second in the table ahead of their trip to promotion rivals Northamptonshire, who are just four points behind, which starts on Thursday.
“I don’t think there were nerves, but I do think the lunch break came at a good time for us - they played well, Helm and Cracknell,” said Parkinson.
“I’ve not taken too many wickets this season, so to get 2-22 was nice. It helped that I’d bowled four overs yesterday and it had spun a bit.
“This game was weird - I think if you spoke to [Middlesex’s] Zafar Gohar as well, we both thought we’d have had a more central role and instead it just nipped every day.
“I think we’ve been nailing our skills, the seamers have been fantastic. My first two years at Kent, we didn’t really win many games and I think we’ve shown that, when we do have a full squad, we can be right up there.”
With 170 more required at the start of play, Middlesex could ill afford to lose early wickets, but the eighth delivery of the morning from Matt Quinn veered back to clatter into Ryan Higgins’ middle stump.
Quinn’s strike partner Matt Milnes - having claimed five dismissals in the first innings - then posted his name on the wickets column again with the prize scalp of home captain Leus du Plooy, yorked by a beauty for 40.
Zafar Gohar soon followed, trapped in front by Quinn - and Kent’s initial bowling change of the morning paid immediate dividends when Keith Dudgeon’s first ball nipped back to splay Toby Roland-Jones’ stumps.
Helm displayed defiance, immediately dispatching Dudgeon for two cover boundaries and punching Quinn off the back foot for four more as he and Cracknell lowered the target to double figures.
Other than a top-edged hook that flew over Chris Benjamin’s head for four, Cracknell batted sensibly but also went for his shots, taking 11 from a single Ekansh Singh over and slamming Milnes over mid-on for a boundary to reach his third half-century of the season.
The pair took Middlesex’s total to 300 on the stroke of lunch, but it was Parkinson who made the breakthrough in the fourth over after the interval as Helm drilled straight to Kent skipper Daniel Bell-Drummond.
Cornwell was then castled by a ball that turned viciously, completing Kent’s success and a Championship double over Middlesex for the first time since 2018.
Report by ECB Reporters’ Network supported by Rothesay.
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